Pair of convicts break out of prison, greet a confederate, and hit the road.
Enroute waits a stash of loot and south of the border passage.
First - car, hostages, and a hideout.
What better place to hide than an abandoned mining town, half mile from an atomic bomb test site?
“No one will hunt for us here. Especially since there is a test tomorrow at 6:00 AM.”
Part Noir, part Playhouse drama.
Eye candy includes luscious Jan Sterling (bad girl with the good heart), and Alexis Smith (bitter wife, bored and oh-so easy).
The real star, though, is Stephen McNally, the head con. Tough, unflinching, he can and does kill in a heartbeat.
Smartest man in the room. Yet being a Noir, things can go wrong, even for smart guys.
This was Dick Powell’s first directorial film and I could not get over the nuclear bomb angle.
Three years later, he would direct The Conqueror on Utah’s atomic testing grounds.
That movie, an atrocious John Wayne vehicle, is notorious for the heavy death toll, stars and crew, from cancer.
